Share this Page

Should contracting professionals go back to school?

Apr 12, 2012

Everyone agrees that the government contracting market is getting more competitive and that key employees in marketing, sales, business development, capture and other disciplines will have to raise their skills to a new level.

As a result, companies and individual professionals in the government contracting community need to assess their skills and resources and determine where and how to invest in professional development.

One way to hone your skills is to find venues where you can continue to learn from professionals in your discipline. These venues can take many forms, including seminars, industry briefings, webinars and others.

Recent articles in the Washington Post magazine have highlighted the level of education in the national capitol area. The articles include statistics on the high concentration of MBAs in the D.C. metro area compared to the rest of the country. Underscored was the high cost of earning an MBA and how MBAs are becoming less of a differentiator in some disciplines.

My problem with MBAs is that I have never heard of an MBA program that deals directly with government contracting, so while the degree may represent a broad grasp of business issues, these issues may not have a bearing on winning or maximizing the value of a contract.

Too often I see job requirements that call for advanced degrees, especially MBAs, and I wonder why? In today’s government market, I would rather see potential and current employees with professional certifications or classes from organizations like the Association for Proposal Management Professionals (www.apmpnca.org) , the National Contract Management Association (www.ncma.org), or the National Procurement Institute (www.NPI.org) for example, showing me they are studying all facets of government contracting.

There are many professional associations that offer certification-based training for professionals. Organizations like Society of American Military Engineers (www.same.org), the Society of Government Meeting Professionals (www.sgmp.org), the International Facilities Management Association (www.ifma.org) and others offer ongoing professional education. If your company targets military engineers, or sells products or services related to federal facilities, or sells services or products related to successful meetings, wouldn’t it help your sales, marketing and business development staff to go through all or part of the same certification process?

There are other sources of professional education available as well that can address sales, marketing business development, proposals and more. However, when seeking training it’s critical to make certain the provider has a legitimate pedigree. There has always been a hierarchy of a top, middle and bottom tier institutions that offer such courses and programs. Some continuing professional education programs are simply much better than others.

So caveat emptor!

What should be the criteria for selecting ongoing professional education? Here is a short list:

Will the program help me/my employee to be more effective?

Is the provider of the training legitimate?

Is the program offering current information and taking into consideration the changing landscape?

If you attend sessions in person, will the networking be an added value?

Are the course taught by industry professionals?

Does the cost justify participation?

I have been offering courses to the government contracting community since 1991 and have produced over 150 events in the past 20 years. Recently I have partnered with Capitol College in Laurel, Md., to produce certificate-based programs for government contracting in the areas of sales, marketing, business development, social media and managing a government business. Government Market Master courses will start in June and be available in class in Laurel, and via webinar (www.capitol-college.edu/gmm).

Regardless of where you are in the government contracting community, from the top tier of the Washington Technology Top 100 or a small business winning your first contract, your ability to stay competitive will be predicated on how knowledgeable your front line employees are.

About the Author

Mark Amtower advises government contractors on all facets of business-to-government (B2G) marketing and leveraging LinkedIn.

Reader Comments

Sun, Apr 29, 2012

Disagree with the writer concerning MBAs. There are several schools offering masters level programs in acquisition and procurement management to include a government procurement focus. However, we shouldn't stop with the MBA. We should continue to seek additional education though professional certifications...CPCM, CPM, PMP are all good to have and open doors to greater education.

Wed, Apr 18, 2012
Jim B

The writer needs to do better research. There are several MBA and MS programs that offer excelent Masters degrees focusing on Federal Government Contracting. The Naval Postgraduate School (http://www.nps.edu/Academics/Schools/GSBPP/index.html )is an outstanding example! A masters program that offers a combination of classic business analytical skills with a focused program on Federal/Defense contracting is invaluable.

Tue, Apr 17, 2012
steven rowe
Boise,ID

problem doesn't lay with more schooling define a worker trade skills,Leadership skills,, total disagree most those schools that have 4 year degrees,. their sending $90K+ for once was just 25 years ago was a 1 year trade school classes ,( and books haven't changed)) I do commercial Estimating..I just met a lot of Federal Government estimators-bid managers-ect on media site called Linked-IN they can care less that their estimaties add up or come close to a budget as long as their creative writing lands them that project,, without estimators with spec-skills and experience in that field your going to always end up with project like walter reed hospital

Sat, Apr 14, 2012

I have to strongly disagree with your criticism of MBAs. This degree can significantly help the Federal Government in a number of ways, especially the EMBA programs. For example, these programs offer education in Lean Six Sigma, Strategic Frameworks, Methodologies to solve problems, and Innovation. How can this not provide value to the Federal Government? In fact, many of these programs offer education in Leadership skills, which are in high demand in this market. We have too many failures in Leadership and this skill can be honed in the MBA programs. Additionally, the integration of these disciplines in solving problems can provide substantial value to customers.

Fri, Apr 13, 2012

That's funny! I am working on my Masters of Science in Acquistion and Contract Management. I am attending the first school accredited by the Federal Acquisition Institute. Looks like you may need to do a little more research.

Do you have a password?

Trending

In an exclusive for WT Insider members, we are collecting all of the contract awards we cover into a database that you can sort by contractor, agency, value and other parameters. You can also download it into a spreadsheet.
Read More